Meet Our Ancestors

Chauvet Cave: a 36,000-year-old art gallery, normally closed to the public, opens to everyone through immersive tech

In collaboration with

Grotte Chauvet - UNESCO World Heritage Site

When cavemen discovered art

Step back in time to the dawn of creativity 36,000 years ago

A brief history

Marauding Mammoths, Mysterious Footprints, and the Story of a Miraculous Discovery

A bitesize version of a 36,000-year history

Step inside

Enter the mysterious site that's normally closed to the public

Take the tour in English

Daisy Ridley Takes You on an Immersive Journey Through the Cave in a New Virtual Reality Experience

Watch the drawings come to life before your eyes, as narrated by the iconic British actress

Take the tour in French

Cécile de France Takes You on an Immersive Journey Through the Cave in a New Virtual Reality Experience

Watch the drawings come to life before your eyes, as narrated by the iconic Belgian actress

Launch the immersive experience on SteamVR

Get the app

Who were our ancestors?

Play a game to discover just how much we have in common with prehistoric humans

Who Was a Cro-Magnon Man?

Could Our Ancestors Get Sick?

Did Our Ancestors Have Wars?

How Did Our Ancestors Pick Where to Draw?

How Did Our Ancestors Speak to Each Other?

Did Our Ancestors Die Young?

What Was Spirituality Like 36, 000 Years Ago?

Did Prehistoric Men Cry?

What Materials Did Our Ancestors Use to Make Paint?

How Did Our Ancestors Meet Each Other?

Were There Other Humans in Europe 36,000 Years Ago?

Did Our Ancestors Have Professions?

Why Do We Describe our Ancestors as "Hunter-Gatherers"?

Were There As Many Humans 36,000 Years Ago As Today?

How Did Our Ancestors Dress?

Did Our Ancestors' Children Have Toys?

Did Our Ancestors Have Hygiene Routines?

What Images Did Our Ancestors Paint Most?

Did Our Ancestors Hunt Mammoths?

How Do We Know These Drawings Were Produced 36,000 Years Ago?

Did Our Ancestors Have Parties?

Did Our Ancestors Make Sketches Before Drawing in Caves?

Have All Prehistoric Animals Disappeared?

Did Our Ancestors Live In the Same Place All Year Round?

Did Our Ancestors Cook?

Why Did Our Ancestors Draw So Few People?

How Did Our Ancestors Light Up Caves?

How Long Was Cave Art Practiced For?

Were All Our Ancestors' Tools Made From Flint?

Did Our Ancestors Draw the Animals They Ate?

Untouched from 34,000 BCE to 1994

The story behind the surprising discovery

How Experts Found the Cave With a Mosquito Coil

What it was like to be the first people in the cave since prehistory

Closed to the public, open in AR

Drop the cave in front of you and experience the cave paintings in Augmented Reality

Hold the Cave in Your Hand

Prehistoric France comes to you in this Pocket Gallery

Take a walk on the wild side

3D Object

One of Humanity's First Masterpieces

Explore the details in The Horses Fresco

3D Object

Horses and Mammoths and Bears, Oh My!

See the animals in the Engraved Horses Panel, up close

3D Object

Why Was a Bear Skull Displayed Like This?

Look closer at the skull placed here 36,000 years ago

3D Object

The Drawing that Reveals Climate Change

See the drawings of arctic musk oxen that must have lived nearby

3D Object

What Two Species Can You See?

Clue: one of them is now extinct and one is a festive icon

3D Object

Can You See The Remains of Ancient Fires?

Take a turn around the Megaceros Gallery

Where art started

Go on a chamber-by-chamber journey through the cave

The World's First Art Gallery

A brief history of one of Mankind's first masterpieces

Explore

The Brunel Room

What do the dots depict?

The Bear Hollow Chamber

Spot the woolly mammoth

The Red Panels Gallery

Watch out for the bear bones

The Candle Chamber

You'll have to crawl for this one

The Hillaire Chamber

The mysterious owl drawing

The Skull Chamber and the Lattices Gallery

Why are the skulls there?

The Megaloceros Gallery

An ibex, woolly rhinos, and a megaloceros

The End Chamber

The heart of the sanctuary

The original underground art scene

A closer look at how and why our ancestors decorated the Chauvet Cave

Decoration, Worship, or Magic?

Experts on what could have moved cavemen to create art

How People Painted Before Paint Existed

Discover the range of techniques behind the artworks

The Details You Might Have Missed in the Fresco of the Big Cats

Not the kind of animals you find in the French countryside anymore!

Grab the Prehistoric Popcorn

Was the Chauvet Cave the first movie theater?

In 1940, Pablo Picasso saw ancient cave art and reportedly said, "they invented everything!"

Caveman or copycat?

Discover how cave art made a comeback

Can You Guess Modern Abstract Art From Prehistoric Cave Paintings?

Take the quiz and see for yourself how advanced the ancient artists were

Rock of ages

Explore the ways the art of the past is still alive today

From Picasso to Banksy: How Cave Art Influences Modern Art

Before street art, there was cave art

Nothing is Set in Stone

The quest to protect rock art from climate change, vandalism, and industry

Digging deeper

Discover more about the Chauvet Cave and its inhabitants

It Wasn't Just Drawings That Were Left Behind...

A closer look at the human signs inside the cave

How To Live Life, Prehistoric Style

The culture of the cave dwellers

Take a walk on the wild side

And explore the nature that inspired the drawings

6 Extinct Animals You Won't Find Alive in the Cave Today

It wasn't only our ancestors who roamed these caves...

View

What the Chauvet Area Looked Like 36,000 Years Ago

From woolly mammoths to woolly rhinoceroses

Do You Dare to Meet the Cave Bear?

The other inhabitant of the cave - that weighed 1,000lbs

Chauvet Cave, recreated

Making the Chauvet experience available to the public

The Epic Journey to Making an Accurate Lifesize Replica

Saving, sharing, preserving

Beyond Chauvet

Discover other examples of prehistoric cave art

The Art of Ardeche Caverns

There's more to the region than Chauvet

Explore more...

Images

Videos

Stories

3D Models

Continue your journey into the cave...

Explore